People

Ships Passing In The Night

When we were in Cincinnati in the early 1960s, we attended a small church of some fine people of faith.  Wednesday night was testimony time, and everyone had opportunity to stand and tell what the Lord was doing in their life.  One regular speaker was a retired medical doctor.  His silvery, white hair, and his genuine expressions of love and concern for people we will never forget.  His experiences with the sick and suffering had given him special insight into a world of hurting and dying people.  And it showed.  He always spoke with a breaking heart, as he shared his deepest emotions.  He closed all of testimonies with the expression, “We are like ships passing in the night.”  And he believed we all have a purpose for all the paths we cross.

I firmly believe there were two men who crossed my path by Divine appointments.  These were two medical doctors who had a short, but profound impact on my life. 

Here in the People room today, I’m going to pay tribute to two men I barely knew.  We crossed paths, I believe, by Divine Appointment, and that for a very brief time.

On a Friday afternoon In May a few years ago I was feeling very sick so I was driven to the local hospital, and from there air-lifted to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.  I spent 9 days in the ICU, and another 6 days in the step-down unit.  I survived thanks to the many prayers that went up for me, and  medical care headed up by Dr. Art Wheeler.

Dr. Wheeler came to my room twice each day to check my progress and talk with me and my wife.  Turns out I had a form of blood poisoning, urosepsis, which is potentially fatal, particularly in people of my age.  He explained about the bacterial poisoning and what they look like under the microscope.  As with all the doctors at Vanderbilt, Dr. Wheeler always had three or four students in tow, explaining everything he said to us and to them.  He was one of the friendliest, most cordial medical providers I had ever encountered.  He asked me about my work, the farm, our ponds, and we showed him pictures.  He loved the pictures of the farm, especially the ones showing our excavator as it was digging ponds.  He said he lived on a small farm a few miles south of Nashville, and he had always wanted an excavator like the one in our pictures.  We had a very pleasant relationship for two weeks as I was recovering before I left the hospital.

Three months later, I was back at Vanderbilt for a regular check-up with my cardiologist.  I told him about my recent helicopter ride, and I asked him if he knew Dr. Wheeler over in the ICU.  He said “everyone knows Art Wheeler.”  Thousands of doctors in that hospital, all specialists, most of them teaching as they practice medicine, and most of them only known within their circle.  But he said Art Wheeler was easily the most well-known, the most popular doctor, and instructor in the entire facility.

Then, in a somber tone, he told me that Dr. Wheeler had died a few days before we were having that conversation.  Not long after I left the ICU, Dr. Wheeler started having some ominous symptoms.  There is no known, effective treatment for pancreatic cancer.  Knowing he couldn’t last long, Dr. Wheeler retired to his farm in the country south of Nashville, and let the cancer take its course.  Which it did, and in three months he was gone. 

To this day, I am thankful for all the prayers that were said for me as I was riding in that helicopter, and lying in that ICU.  I believe the Lord directed Dr. Wheeler across my path, and I am thankful for the medical care he and his team provided to me.    

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After surgery in 2012, my doctor told me there might need to be some follow-up work done at a later time.  Sure enough, in about two years, having some symptoms, I went to a doctor in Huntsville who was recommended to me by another doctor.  When I got in to see Dr. Don Chapman, I explained to him about my original surgery two years earlier.  He said he understood, and he knew why I needed follow-up work.  He said he would be glad to help me.  He was a very busy guy, but he spent a good bit of time talking with me about the issue. 

The initial CT scan made it plain what he had to do.  The work was done with day surgery and I was back home the same day.  Dr. Chapman said he wanted to see me again in a couple months for a follow-up.  So he sent me to the imaging center again and an abdominal CT scan.  Two days later, when I got to his office, he explained to me that sometimes a CT scan captures a little larger area than what was originally ordered.  The abdomen scan had picked up a bit of the chest area, including the bottom third of my lungs.  He had ordered a radiology review of the scan, and those bright white spots showing in my lungs needed further attention.  He would not say that the spots were metastatic cancer, but they could be.  A biopsy would verify that.

Medical doctors don’t usually get emotional delivering bad news to their patients.  Dr. Chapman came really close that day as he looked away from me while we talked.  I was the one being told my cancer had come back, but he was taking the news so hard, I felt sorry for him having to tell me.  He offered me sincere condolences and expressions of sympathy.  He referred me to an oncologist that he knew well.  He said this would be the cancer doctor he would see if he ever needed to.

So, I had the biopsy in February, confirming the cancer had metastasized, and started receiving treatments in March.  I was back in June for another infusion, and spent a few minutes with the scheduling clerk.  Talking with her, I mentioned Dr. Chapman’s recommendation that I come there.  She quickly became very downcast and said she was really sorry for Dr. Chapman and his family, so I asked her what she was talking about.  She said he came to them with ominous symptoms in February.  This was about the same time he had told me where he would go if he ever needed to see a cancer doctor.  Dr. Chapman declined any attempts to treat his pancreatic cancer, and he died in early June. 

I am forever thankful that the Lord directed me to Dr. Chapman.  I appreciated his genuine concern for my emotional well-being during a time of great stress.  I am thankful for the medical care he provided to me, as I believe the Lord helped him to get me into early diagnosis and treatment.  I believe in the power of prayer.  I also believe the Lord uses trained medical doctors and nurses as extensions of “His hands” in providing appropriate medical care for those in need.

I believe I am alive today because the Lord, in His perfect wisdom, allowed Dr. Art Wheeler and Dr. Don Chapman to cross my path just at the right times and places.